Post by michael on Sept 29, 2005 8:33:40 GMT -5
I love my Parker Fly!
I acquired my Fly Deluxe in 1995, purchased used from Mandolin Brothers. Until that point in time I was a devoted Fender Telecaster man. I still love that particular guitar, much more so than the Stratocaster. The Tele seems to possess more tonal character, at least to my ears.
On the day I became hooked on Ken Parker's design I was waiting for my jazz teacher to arrive. Gary Brunner had been sitting with me for about a month, giving me lessons on the fine but elusive (read baffling) art of jazz guitar. Gary has a tremendous collection of fine, elegant arch-top guitars, but he walked into the room that day with a Parker Fly gig bag.
I had only seen pictures of the instrument in Guitar Player magazine and dismissed it as an ugly design. When Gary pulled his guitar out of the bag I remember asking him something to the effect of "what are you doing with one of those...things?" His reply was "this guitar is everything I ever wanted in an electric guitar. Here, try it." I set my Tele on it's stand, took the proffered instrument and set in my lap, put my hands on the fretboard, strummed a simple G chord, and I knew. I knew!
Gary let me use the guitar during our lesson, and I was overwhelmed by not only it's marvelous playability, but by it's sheer beauty. Photos I had seen did not do the guitar justice. I was also a bit ashamed of myself for sitting in judgment of an instrument with no personal involvement with it. I thought I was better musician than that.
Directly our lesson was over, I went out to the Mandolin Brothers website (Gary's suggestion) and found a used red Deluxe, with gig bag. I had to sell my collection of Telecasters to finance it! That hurt a bit, I admit. But the guitar was everything Gary's was. Except it was mine. Mine! Bwa-ha-ha!
Follow this link to check out Parker guitars yourself: www.parkerguitars.com
I acquired my Fly Deluxe in 1995, purchased used from Mandolin Brothers. Until that point in time I was a devoted Fender Telecaster man. I still love that particular guitar, much more so than the Stratocaster. The Tele seems to possess more tonal character, at least to my ears.
On the day I became hooked on Ken Parker's design I was waiting for my jazz teacher to arrive. Gary Brunner had been sitting with me for about a month, giving me lessons on the fine but elusive (read baffling) art of jazz guitar. Gary has a tremendous collection of fine, elegant arch-top guitars, but he walked into the room that day with a Parker Fly gig bag.
I had only seen pictures of the instrument in Guitar Player magazine and dismissed it as an ugly design. When Gary pulled his guitar out of the bag I remember asking him something to the effect of "what are you doing with one of those...things?" His reply was "this guitar is everything I ever wanted in an electric guitar. Here, try it." I set my Tele on it's stand, took the proffered instrument and set in my lap, put my hands on the fretboard, strummed a simple G chord, and I knew. I knew!
Gary let me use the guitar during our lesson, and I was overwhelmed by not only it's marvelous playability, but by it's sheer beauty. Photos I had seen did not do the guitar justice. I was also a bit ashamed of myself for sitting in judgment of an instrument with no personal involvement with it. I thought I was better musician than that.
Directly our lesson was over, I went out to the Mandolin Brothers website (Gary's suggestion) and found a used red Deluxe, with gig bag. I had to sell my collection of Telecasters to finance it! That hurt a bit, I admit. But the guitar was everything Gary's was. Except it was mine. Mine! Bwa-ha-ha!
Follow this link to check out Parker guitars yourself: www.parkerguitars.com